


Thoroughbred of Sin

by Lunik



Series: Loki's Brood [2]
Category: Thor (2011)
Genre: AU, Community: norsekink, Gen, Loki's Brood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-27
Updated: 2011-10-27
Packaged: 2017-10-25 00:13:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/269479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunik/pseuds/Lunik
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In retrospect, perhaps it wasn't the best idea to introduce Loki's son to Doctor Horrible's Singalong Blog. Hel will freely admit that this was her bad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thoroughbred of Sin

Tony wasn't quite sure what took him past Coulson's office at just that moment in time. He was looking for the Cap, to do some quality Consulting. (The excuse he'd found this time was _Don't you think you're being a bit hard on the Norse god?_ which was a perfect excuse because Tony knew he'd get the same answer as the last three times -- _Orders from above. He's got to be acclimatised to Midgardian customs_. Poor Thor the Thunder God was on his fourth hour of etiquette lessons today, but Tony was okay with that when it meant he got to watch Captain America punch things in the on-site gym.)

Either way, he wasn't lost in his own donated mansion, but he had decided to take an alternative route, and that took him past Coulson's open door. He stopped in his tracks when he heard an honest-to-god curse word leave the man's lips. Since he had thought Coulson didn't know any words stronger than 'darn', Tony decided it was time for some executive eavesdropping.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But what are you gonna do? It's _Joss Whedon_." The voice was a woman's, tinny and quiet, obviously from a speakerphone. Tony had to strain to hear it, but he could hear Coulson's irritated sigh much more easily.

"Hel, I work in the superhero business. Why would you show him something that glorifies super _villains_ instead?"

"Hey, it's not like I planned it! I was showing him the internet, because you know we can't keep him from it forever, and besides youtube is epic!" The last word was sung out, _epic_ , and Tony was imagining Hel throwing up the 'metal' horns. She sounded like the kind of person who would do that -- probably too young to be Coulson's wife or girlfriend, going by the voice, but maybe a sister? Tony made a note to look up 'Helen Coulson', on the off chance. "So I ended up showing him TVtropes, because where else do you go on the internet."

"Absolutely nowhere, apparently," Coulson said drily.

"Quiet, you. TVtropes ended up on Doctor Horrible, and then we were watching the videos... I got out my DVD set, I thought he'd like Bad Horse!"

"Words can't express how glad I am that you were right, Hel."

"Okay, okay, put the sarcasm back in its box, mister. And we can all stop playing the blame game, 'cuz this would never have happened if either of you guys had bothered to show him stuff like this. You've spent, like, an hour with him since we got him back."

"That's not--"

"I know. You're big secret agents and stuff. You've got all your stuff since the Bifrost came back online, and trying to keep Dad away from it all--"

Tony stopped listening. No reason to push his luck. Agent Coulson was still the intimidating butler type to the Avengers, but now Tony maybe had a little leverage. He couldn't imagine it was all kosher for the guy to be telling his sister about the things Tony had signed a hundred non-disclosure agreements to find out about. Maybe he could casually mention it while Fury was in the room, just see what happened.

Tony headed for the gym, before anyone could see him loitering at Coulson's door.

\---

Jane was having a problem. Of course, all her hard work these past months, years, had been for the sake of scientific advancement. Jane was a professional, and a scientist, and she wasn't the kind who would elevate humankind's understanding of the universe for a _boy_.

But the boy was part of it. Which was why Jane was... not _angry_ , but at least a little _disgruntled_ that SHIELD had locked her boyfriend away in a facility to be vetted and retrained as a superhero. "It's from way up top." She said, in a voice that definitely wasn't whining. "Apparently, Director Fury himself is insisting that he needs to be properly schooled."

"That is so mean of him." Darcy was still completely focused on her iPod, but she sounded sympathetic. Even with the ghost of a smirk floating around her lips that Jane chose to ignore.

"Well," she said regretfully, "at least he won't keep smashing coffee cups this way."

That was definitely a smirk, and Jane was definitely ignoring it. She was just turning back to her work when there was a knock at the open door of the office. Darcy looked up, and gasped. "Bro!"

Surprised, Jane looked over. In the door was a young man, couldn't have been older than about eighteen, maybe nineteen, with a look on his face that was halfway between sheepish and mulish. Some kind of four-legged animal, thought Jane, but she couldn't think why she thought that. He was tall, the kind of spindly looking tall that made him feel like he'd grown too fast for his body to keep up, with dark curly hair and long delicate features. If Jane looked close enough, she could see a very definite family resemblance with Darcy.

"I thought I told you to wait outside the complex?" Darcy was saying. "How did you get in here anyway?"

The boy shrugged. "I'm quicker than anyone who was watching. And you said you'd be out half an hour ago. I'm rubbish at waiting." His accent was strange, but Jane couldn't place it. It was like he was aiming to match Darcy's accent, but concentrating too closely on the words. Curious, Jane looked back and forth between the two of them. Two years, she'd known Darcy now, and she'd had no idea she had a brother. He jerked his chin towards Jane. "Who is this?"

"This is my _boss_ ," Darcy said with an odd inflection in her voice. "Jane, this is my little brother Simon."

Simon looked uncertain, and Jane smiled reassuringly. "Hi, Simon. It's a pleasure to meet you." She held out her hand to shake.

Simon regarded it uneasily for a second, but at Darcy's meaningful nod he took hold of Jane's fingers for the briefest moment possible before releasing them. "Is she a mortal like the rest of them?" he asked Darcy.

Darcy gave a theatrical eye-roll. "Yes, we're all peons around here. Geez, wear more eyeliner, dork boy."

Jane tried to smile understandingly. Great. Darcy's brother was a goth boy who broke into government facilities like it wasn't hard to do. Well, Jane could sort of relate -- everyone had a little rebellious phase in their teenage years. Jane herself had spent an entire year threatening her parents that she would specialise in Steady State theory instead of Chaotic Inflation.

Simon narrowed his eyes. "If she's only mortal, why is she your boss?" Jane grit her teeth and carried right on smiling. Darcy smacked her brother upside the back of his head.

"She's my boss because I like her, dumbass. And she works for SHIELD these days, so that's all kinds of awesome."

"Fine, okay! Geez." Simon rubbed his head resentfully. "When I've conquered this realm, you can be your own boss again, anyway."

" _O-_ kay!" said Darcy brightly, and a little too quickly. "We need to get you a caramel macchiato. Listen, boss, I gotta bounce." She grabbed Simon by the shoulders, spun him around and started shoving him out the door. Jane nodded and waved them both goodbye.

As they left, Simon poked his head back around the door frame. "It was nice meeting you, Jane. When I rule this place with an iron hoof, I'll make sure you're treated well." Darcy clapped a hand over his mouth and dragged him out of view.

Jane chuckled as she returned to her work. Simon seemed like a sweet kid. Hopefully next time they met he wouldn't be hell bent on world domination.

\---

"One moment please," came the voice, hard as nails through the door, and Steve retreated two steps. Director Fury was clearly busy, and from the sound of his voice, Steve did _not_ want to disturb him. He fell into parade rest to wait outside the door.

"...not sure you understand how serious this could get," said a voice from inside the Director's office. It sounded to Steve like the Avengers' administrative liaison, Agent Coulson.

It was a source of great embarrassment to Steve, that when the super soldier serum had enhanced all his senses, including his hearing, it had made it almost impossible for him _not_ to eavesdrop in a situation like this. He could always try to forget the things he had heard, but his memory had been too good for that even before the serum. And he wasn't great at distracting himself inside his own head. So, short of stuffing his fingers into his ears, there wasn't much he could do. Except to keep any secrets he learned, and never tell anyone he knew.

"He's at home right now, working on his _costume_ ," continued Coulson. "I know we have our hands full trying to keep the godlings from noticing each other, but Hel is right. If this goes much further, he might really get hurt."

Steve heard Director Fury sigh. "I know. But SHIELD has a hand in every major superhero operation in the country. And I know none of the Avengers will hurt him. He looks like a kid."

Agent Coulson made a sound of scorn. "No they won't hurt him. Because if any of them lays a finger on him, I'll kill them." Steve blinked. It was a casual threat, but the last thing he would have expected to hear from their own liaison. "Stark would be easiest -- all I'd need is a can opener and five minutes."

Steve didn't doubt he could do it.

"You kill any member of that team and I will bust your ass out of SHIELD, _Agent_ Coulson." Fury's voice was like iron. There was a long moment of silence. Then--

"Understood... sir."

Steve was a military man, and recognised the difference between a genuine 'sir' and the kind of 'sir' that was one step down from a direct challenge. Maybe he'd had the wrong idea about Agent Coulson. Or maybe he had just misjudged the relationship between the Director and their administrative liaison.

When Director Fury spoke again, his voice was softer, but left just as little room for argument. "We'd have to scramble to cover if we lost you, but SHIELD is my curse, not yours." Steve frowned at the wording. Curse?

"All right," said Agent Coulson, less defiantly now. "But...?"

"But you are right. I'll speak to him before this goes any further."

"Thank you. If you'll excuse me, sir, I have reports to collate, and Captain America is waiting outside to talk to you. You'll have to explain to him why Thor is still on probation. Again."

Steve snapped back to attention, his eyes to the front as the door opened. Agent Coulson nodded to him as he passed, his features as mild and unassuming as they were every time Steve saw him.

\---

The field of super heroics was still very new, and most of the people involved were still finding their feet. Everyone still had images of Adam West in their heads, and big starbursts that said 'zing' and 'boff'. It was a little silly, and even the superheroes could agree with that sometimes. Natasha was ex-KGB, and she was infinitely more comfortable with black ops and wet work than with supervillains and killer robots.

Still, even if she couldn't quite define 'supervillain' in her head, beyond actors in clown suits or top hats, she was pretty sure she knew what a supervillain was _not_. Hammer and Vanko could be made to fit the mould. Teenage boys in hoodies and masks probably could not.

She let her hand rest casually on the spider bites at her belt, but didn't move to use them. "Is this the smartest thing you think you've ever done?" she asked mildly.

The supervillain in the crazy horse hoodie held his 'combat ready' pose. If Natasha was honest, it wasn't a bad stance -- cribbed from martial arts movies, but solid -- except for the way the kid was trembling. He looked like he was already regretting his challenge. "It doesn't matter how many of you I have to fight," he said gruffly, "When I'm in control of this realm, no one will ever hurt my brothers or my sister again. If I have to kill a few of you heroes to get there, that's what I'll do!"

And that was a direct threat against an agent of SHIELD, and Natasha couldn't just ignore him like she'd been hoping. She would have to at least bring him in for interrogation, it was procedure. She shrugged, and used the motion to unhook one of the bites from the back of her belt. "How old are you, kid?" she asked.

He shook his head, baring his teeth behind the mask. "Old enough, mortal. Now are you going to stand around here talking, or will you fight me?"

"Just wondering," Natasha shrugged, "Does your mother know where you are?"

That one hit home. The kid reeled back like he'd taken a physical blow. "My mother doesn't even know -- Ah, what the hell?" Natasha pressed the advantage to bring her hand around in a wide arc, sending the spider bite spinning along the ground toward him. She'd aimed it so it would detonate about a yard from his feet -- he was smaller than most, so he'd need the extra distance to stun, not kill.

Then a couple of things happened, not all of them in the real world. The kid threw his hands up over his face, and Natasha felt a sense of movement, like an exodus, like the beat of wild horses' hooves on the plains. And without warning the shadow of a wolf fell on the ground between them.

Then, somehow, Coulson was there, occupying the space between Natasha and the kid. He kicked the spider bite effortlessly aside and in the same movement grabbed the front of the hoodie in one hand, pulled the kid behind him and held the other hand out to Natasha in the universal _stop or I will end your shit_ signal.

The bite hit a chain link fence off to one side and exploded in an arc of killer lightning. Behind Coulson, the supervillain hoodie let out a strangled yell. "What the hell?" he shouted again. "She tried to kill me! She was actually going to kill me, oh my god!"

"Stun!" said Natasha quickly, seeing the look on Coulson's face. "Stun not kill."

"Are you kidding me?" Coulson snarled. "Widow, he can't even be as old as twenty, and you're using lethal force?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "He made a threat," she said calmly. She knew procedure. But she was a little perturbed by the sheer animal anger in Coulson's eyes. She hadn't thought there was anything that could get the man this riled up. "And it was semi lethal."

Coulson sent her a scathing look that let her know just what he thought of 'semi-lethal' taser buttons that delivered over two million volts, and rounded on the kid in the hoodie. "And you! What did you think was going to happen if you picked a fight with a superhero? This isn't comic books, and yes, people do die!"

"I- I didn't think..."

"No, that much is clear." Against her better judgement, Natasha found herself feeling sorry for her wannabe nemesis. She'd been on Phil Coulson's shit list once or twice in her life, and right now the littlest supervillain was looking like he needed nothing more than a hug.

Natasha had to stop herself from gaping like a moron, though, when she saw Coulson give it to him. He slid an arm round the kid's shoulders and tucked his head down onto his own shoulder, patting his back awkwardly. "I'm sorry," he said, and if only all supervillains were as easily defeated as the teenage ones.

"Don't give me _sorry_ ," said Coulson, not completely unkindly. "Give me _it won't happen again, Agent Coulson._ "

The boy glanced nervously at the fence that had taken the hit for him. There were scorch marks on the ground. "I won't act like a suicidal moron again, Agent Coulson."

Coulson nodded, as if it was perfectly acceptable for a supervillain to pinkie swear not to do any more crime. "Glad to hear it." He placed both hands on the kid's shoulders to hold him at arm's length. "Stand down, Widow. I'll take this from here."

Natasha didn't bother trying to hide her amusement. "That's the briefest debriefing I think I've ever seen you give, Phil."

"Seems pretty straightforward to me. Kid's sorry, and he won't do it again. I'll clear this thing with Fury, don't worry."

Well, if Coulson was willing to take the heat for this whole situation, Natasha was more than willing to let this 'supervillain' walk. The villain himself was awkwardly hugging his own chest and looking around.

"Is Thor in that building?" he asked suddenly.

Natasha was sure she imagined Coulson's uneasy glance her way before he answered, "You have to know I can't confirm or deny a rumour like that."

"But I..." the kid started, then looked at Coulson's face. "...okay." He looked so downhearted that Coulson steadied a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on. I'll take you home."

The littlest supervillain went quietly.

\---

They rented Seabiscuit. And Hidalgo. And The Black Stallion. They left Black Beauty on the shelf, and piled onto Hel's couch under a blanket. Fenrir and Jormungand made noises about how they couldn't both take the evening off at the same time, but Hel glared them into submission. After a day like today, it wasn't hard to do.

Two hours into the horse movies, though, and both of them were in the kitchen complaining about the lack of beer in Hel's apartment.

Sleipnir was taking up most of the couch, stretched out and sprawled over Hel's shoulder. He had his eyes on the screen, but Hel could tell he'd stopped watching the movie about five minutes ago. She waited patiently.

"...hey," said Sleipnir eventually. Hel didn't look down.

"Hey," she said back.

"About all that supervillain stuff."

"Fenrir's still pissed. He's trying not to be, but you can tell he is because he hasn't taken his tie off yet."

Sleipnir frowned. "I don't think I've seen him take that thing off at _all_ yet."

"He's pissed a _lot_." That worked, and Sleipnir snickered. Hel nudged him.

"I'm sorry, Hel," he said quietly enough that no one in the kitchen could hear. "I guess I just get scared easier than the rest of you guys."

Hel craned to look down at him. "Scared?" she asked, confused. Sleipnir, eyes still glued to the screen, didn't notice.

"Yeah," he said casually. "Midgard is pretty scary. And when you see something that's this much bigger than you -- it could swallow me whole! You just want to lash out, and hurt the thing that scared you." He shrugged uncomfortably against her. "I know it wasn't their fault. I'm sorry."

Hel swallowed. That explained a few things. Or a lot of things. None of them had thought twice about getting Sleipnir out of those stables and out of Asgard -- and they wouldn't hesitate to do it again if _anyone_ , mortal or god, tried to lock him away again, but... Sleipnir had more reasons to be timid than the giant snake, ferocious wolf and queen of the dishonoured dead.

And while she swallowed guilt about not seeing it before, his words sank in. He was scared of the Avengers, so he decided to attack them. Uneasy, she accessed the dim memories of shining Asgard, and the Aesir who cast them out, Wicked Loki's brood.

She thought about Jormungand, the serpent who grew until he could span worlds from edge to edge. And Fenrir, with teeth brighter than blood, and a taste for it. She thought about the way the Aesir had looked at her when she had started to rot as a child. And she remembered a day from her childhood -- father had held his hands over her ears, but she could hear the hard words spoken in the halls as the dark prince and his half dead daughter passed by. And Uncle Thor had been there, looked at his brother's face and had a few sharp words to say himself, for the warriors who felt such fear at the sight of a little girl.

Thor hadn't ever shown her kindness when she looked for it. But that didn't mean it was never there.

 _I know it's not their fault,_ Sleipnir said, but he attacked anyway, because they were bigger than him and he was afraid. Hel had never understood that before. She and her brothers didn't come across many things scarier than they were.

She swallowed, and ruffled Sleipnir's hair. "Well, you don't have to be scared anymore," she said. "Because your big brother is the biggest, scariest thing around, and if there's anything Jor can't devour himself, Fenrir'll get it on the rebound."

Sleipnir laughed, batting her hand out of his hair. "I'll remember that."

"And throw away the mask?"

He hesitated. "It did make me look pretty stupid. I'm keeping the sweater, though."

Then Jor and Fenrir were coming back through from the kitchen, and Sleipnir had to sit up to make room on the couch. They finally agreed to move on from horse movies, and everyone got down to sniping about each other's choice in what to move on to. Hel was too slow to join in, and they ended up watching boy movies for the rest of the night. She didn't mind that too much. She had a few things to think about.

"You should let up on uncle Thor," she said later that night when she caught Jormungand in the kitchen. "It's upsetting Sleipnir."

Jormungand folded his arms and contemplated her. She looked back steadily until he nodded. "Okay, then."


End file.
